Doctors often prophylactically prescribe antibiotics for patients that exhibit symptoms that are equally attributable to some types of bacterial infections as well as some types of non-bacterial infections (e.g., viral infections). When the symptoms are caused by a bacterial infection, antibiotics taken by the patient may be an effective remedy to the bacterial infection, which may cause the symptoms to subside. When the symptoms are caused by a non-bacterial infection, antibiotics are not an effective remedy. The problem of over-prescribing of antibiotics is well known with increasing numbers of bacterial strains becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics. It is also well known that prophylactically prescribing antibiotics may contribute to the over-prescribing problem.
The doctor may avoid prophylactically prescribing antibiotics by determining whether the patient suffers from a bacterial infection or a non-bacterial infection based on results of tests performed on a sample taken from the patient at the point of care. While sending samples to a clinical laboratory for testing and waiting for the results (which may take days to obtain) before prescribing antibiotics may help to avoid over-prescribing antibiotics, it is not normally performed in practice due to potential increases in patient healthcare costs (due to multiple visits) and prolonging patient discomfort due to symptoms caused by a bacterial infection.